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HORSE HAY FORK.

No. 327,639. Patented 00's. 6,1885

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ENOOH S. YEUTZER, OF OTTAXVA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES S. CULLEN AND HECTOR O. HITT, OF SAME PLACE.

HORSE HAY-FORK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,639, dated October 6, 1885.

Application filed September 10, 1884. Serial No. 148,684.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ENOCH S. YEUTZER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ottawa, in the county of La Salle and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Horse Hay-Forks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in horse hay-forks; and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction and arrangement of the same, substantially as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains, I will now proceed to describe its construction and arrangement, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my fork closed; Fig. 2, a similar view closed; Fig. 3, an edge view of the upper portion of the same; Fig. 4, a cross-section of the tines; and Fig. 5 is a modification of the latch.

A represents the tines of the fork, made of angle-iron and bent into the usual or any desired form. These tines are pivoted together at their upper ends, and their pivot-pin a projects upon one side for engagement with the latch.

B represents a slotted casting havinga vertical slot, 1), and upon each side a laterallyextending arm, B, having its outer end provided with a small slot, 22, in which works a pin, a, upon an arm, (0 of the tines. Throughasmall offset, 6 of the casting B runs the suspendingcord 0, to the end of which is secured a plate, 0, on which is pivoted a latch-hook, O, having a shoulder, a, and a locking and tripping lever, O", to which is secured the tripping-line c". The tripping-lever is also provided with a spring, d, which keeps it always in position.

Upon the back of the plate 0 is a transverse tooth or beveled lug, d, adapted to engage with a series of transverse serrations, d upon the casting B, as in Fig. 3.

In operation the fork is dropped upon the hay and the latch pulled down and engaged with the pin a. The rear end of the latchlever being depressed the spring-holdin g lever drops behind the shoulder c and secures it in position. The lifting-cord 0 being now raised draws up the inner ends of the tines and (No model.)

throws their points together to firmly grasp the load, and it is held till the trippingline is hauled upon, which at once releases the latch and allows the hay to drop. The plate 0 is secured to the casting B so as to rise and fall in its slot, either by a bolt, or, preferably, by the end of the cord 0 being passed through said cord and secured to a block upon its rear side. This is preferable, as it draws the plate close to the casting and insures the projection d and serrations d engaging, thus locking the fork at any point. The manner of pivoting the inner ends of the tines and permitting them to turn upon an adjustable fulcrum in the arms B causes them to open much farther than usual and grasp a greater amount of hay. The tines being made of angle-iron are very light and strong, and reduces both the weight and cost of manufacture.

In Fig. 5 is shown a slight modification of the latch, in which only one pivoted bar is used with the tripping-line attached.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a hay-fork, the combination, with a vertically-slotted casting having lateral arms, of the fork-tines having their inner ends pivoted together and adapted to rise and fall in the slot and fulcrumed adjustably in the lateral arms, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a hayfork, a slot-ted casting having slotted lateral arms, in combination with a pair of fork-tines fulcrumed in the arms and pivoted together at their inner ends, and a lifting-latch sliding vertically in the slotted casting, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a hay-fork, the casting B, formed with serrations (1 in combination with the latchplate 0, having a beveled lug, d, upon its rear side, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4:. The plate or casting B, having slot 1) and serrations (Z in combination with the lat-chplate 0, cast with a beveled projection, d, and the suspending-cord 0, passed through both the 1atch-plate and the slotted casting and secured to a block upon its other side, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The casting B, having slot 2) and slotted IOU arms B, in combination with the tines A,con- 7. A hay-fork having its tines made of annected at their inner ends by a pivot, a,workgle-iron, substantially as and for the purpose ing in the slot 1) and fulcrumed at a in the set forth. 15 slotted arms, substantially as and for the pur- In testimony whereof I affix my signature 5 pose set forth. in presence of two Witnesses.

6. The slotted casting 13, having slotted arms B, and the tines A, fulcrumed in the ENOOH S. YEUTZER. slotted arms and having a projecting pivot- T pin, a, connecting their inner ends, in combi- Witnesses: 1o nation with the plate 0, latch 0, having shoul- I. R. ORoss.

der 0, and tripping-lever 0 substantially as W. H. GILMAN.

and for the purpose set forth. 

